| Artemis Fowl | |
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First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Eoin Colfer |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Artemis Fowl series |
| Genre(s) | Young adult, fantasy |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Publication date | April 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback), Audiobook CD |
| Pages | 280 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0670899623 |
| OCLC Number | 46493219 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813 |
| Followed by | The Arctic Incident (2002) |
Artemis Fowl is a young-adult fantasy novel written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. It is the first book in the Artemis Fowl series, followed by Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. Described by its author as "Die Hard with fairies",[1] it follows the adventures of Artemis Fowl, a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, as he kidnaps a fairy for a large ransom of gold.
Throughout the book, the third-person narration switches repeatedly from following the human characters to following the fairy characters to present underlying themes of greed and conflict. The book received a mostly favourable critical response and several awards.[2]
A film adaptation was reported to be in the writing stage in mid-2008, with Jim Sheridan directing.[3][4]
Contents |
Artemis Fowl II is the twelve-year-old son of an Irish crime lord, Artemis Fowl I. After significant research, Artemis believes that he has confirmed the existence of fairies. He tracks down an alcoholic sprite posing as a healer in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and travels there with his bodyguard Butler to obtain from her The Book of the People—the Fairy holy book that is written in Gnommish.
Meanwhile, Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police is tracking a rogue troll that has managed to reach the surface of the Earth from the fairy city, deep underground. Assisted by a technically minded centaur called Foaly and LEPrecon commander Julius Root, she incapacitates the troll. However, this uses the last of her magic, and Commander Root demands that she complete the magic restoring ritual.
Artemis decodes the Book using translating software, and in the process, learns the specifics of the ritual: taking an acorn from an ancient oak tree near a bend in a river under the full moon and planting it elsewhere. Artemis and Butler track down over 100 possible locations for the ritual and start a stakeout; after nearly four months, they discover Holly performing the ritual. Butler tranquillises Holly with a hypodermic syringe.
A LEP retrieval team is sent to scout Fowl Manor. Using their 'shielding' ability, which allows them to vibrate faster than the human eye can follow, the team enters the manor grounds. Artemis had anticipated this, however, and installed a camera with a high frames-per-second rate, allowing him to detect the threat by freezing the image. After Butler incapacitates the intruders, Root decides to lay siege to Fowl Manor using a time-stop and enter negotiations. Artemis reveals the ransom demand: one metric ton of 24-carat gold. Artemis also reveals his knowledge of the time-stop and claims that he can escape it. An analysis by LEP behaviour experts determines that Artemis is telling the truth, or thinks he is.
The attempts to gain entry to the manor continue as the LEP recruit an infamous criminal, the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums to break in. Fairies are forbidden from entering human dwellings without permission, but Mulch has already broken this rule and is immune to the adverse consequences. He tunnels underground to reach the house while Foaly feeds a loop to the manor surveillance system, allowing Mulch to freely explore. Mulch locates a safe containing a copy of the Book, finally revealing to the fairies the source of Artemis' knowledge. The Fairy Council, deciding that nothing is working, promotes a lieutenant called Briar Cudgeon to Acting Commander, temporarily usurping Julius Root. Meanwhile, Holly Short cracks through the concrete of her cell using her bed and completes the ritual with a smuggled acorn. Having regained her magic, she escapes into the main house.
Cudgeon decides to release the troll Holly captured earlier into the mansion to force Artemis to allow the fairies to enter and subdue the troll. This backfires, as Butler, aided by Holly's healing powers, defeats the troll. The Fairy Council subsequently strips Cudgeon of his post.
Artemis is finally granted the ransom. The gold is sent in, and Artemis asks Holly for a wish: to cure his mother's insanity — she has been living in her bedroom, driven mad by the loss of her husband. Holly grants the wish at the cost of half the gold. The LEP decides to send in a 'blue rinse' - a biological bomb that kills all organic life — to eliminate Artemis and allow for the retrieval of the gold, but this fails when Artemis escapes the time-stop by drugging himself and his comrades with sleeping pills. Having survived until the end of the time stop, the LEP is bound by law and leaves the remaining gold and departs. At the end, Artemis finds his mother has fully recovered from her insanity thanks to Holly's magic.
Artemis Fowl has a number of underlying themes, but the most essential of these are greed and the conflict between good and evil.[9][10]
Greed is the first main theme that is introduced into the book,[11] and specifically the desire to obtain gold. In a similar manner to other themes in the book, it changes throughout, becoming less of a focus near to the end of the novel, where Artemis is willing to part with a large sum of money to help someone else.
The idea of conflict between good and evil is one that is touched upon in the book in a light hearted manner. Although Artemis sees himself as an evil genius at the beginning of the book,[12] and is portrayed as such, the end of the story contradicts this image when he pays the fairies to help his mother. Artemis' enemies, the fairies, would be "the good side", but their actions call this view into question—they are as determined as Artemis is to achieve their goals, and while only some of them are willing to ruthlessly deploy a troll, regardless of the possible danger to life, all are willing to utilise a bio-bomb once Holly is out of the mansion to force Artemis into submission.[12]
A string of Gnommish symbols appears at the bottom of each page. They comprise a substitution cipher which can be deciphered using sections of the book's text displayed in Gnommish, together with their English translations. A complete Gnommish cipher key can be found in The Artemis Fowl Files.[13]
In general, the book received a very positive critical response — in 2004 it received the Young Reader's Choice Award[14] and Garden State Teen Book Award, among other awards.[15]
The New York Post said "Artemis Fowl is great ... a new thriller fairy tale that will grab your interest, no matter your age."[16] and the Library Journal said "Fun to read, full of action and humour, this is recommended for all public libraries and to readers of all ages."[17]
The Amazon.com official review highly complimented the book, saying "Fantastic stuff from beginning to end, Artemis Fowl is a rip-roaring, 21st century romp of the highest order."[18] and the book was also generally well received by the public, with an average score of 4/5 from Amazon users.[19]
Reviews, however, were not all positive. The USA Today's review scathingly concluded: "All the familiar action-flick clichés are trotted out: the backstabbing, politically astute subordinate; the seemingly loony but loyal computer expert; the dabs of family loyalty; the requisite happy ending; the utterly unsubtle plugs for the sequel; the big action scenes. ... Resist the hype, parents, booksellers and librarians. This is not the new Harry Potter, nor is it a good children's book."[20]
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